


Tales of Yankee Power

by wildwesternwoman



Category: Red Dead Redemption (Video Games)
Genre: Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, I'm Bad At Summaries, Other, Sad with a Happy Ending, Somewhat, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-25
Updated: 2019-03-16
Packaged: 2019-10-16 01:24:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17540045
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wildwesternwoman/pseuds/wildwesternwoman
Summary: The Carter siblings have always stuck together, a trio of pretty faces, sweet talkers, and sure shots. Could their new life with the Van der Linde gang offer them a chance to be a real family again? Or will their differing allegeiances tear them all apart?





	1. Sweet Lies Told to Me by a Devil

The only sounds Josephine Carter could rightly hear were the soft crunching of snow and twigs under her feet, her gasping breath, and the distant howling of hounds hot on her trail. The only thing hot on that bitter January night. Boy, she had really gone and done it now. The wrong con on the wrong man and now she and her brother and sister were running for their lives, leaving everything they owned in Valentine. 

Their horses had been stabled, their belongings up in the hotel. All they had to run with was the clothes on their backs and weapons in their hands. She prayed they wouldn’t need to use them tonight. Shooting some so-called hot shot in this twisted Robin Hood tale they lived, well that was one thing, shooting the law was another. 

Before she could even comprehend what was happening, a pair of hands jerked her violently from her path, clamping a hand over her mouth to stifle the shriek beginning to emit from her. The other hand held her arms tightly behind her back. Her sister Kate appeared in front of her suddenly, pressing a finger to her lips in a shushing motion. The hands belonging to her brother released her and the three huddled together against the side of a barn, listening to the hounds and men getting closer. 

“What in God’s name are you two doing?” She whispered.  
“We’re gonna hide in the loft of this here barn until we see them go past, then we’re gonna circle back around and get our stuff,” Clay reloaded his revolver as he spoke.  
“Did you _shoot_ somebody?”  
“I shot _at_ them, I don’t think I actually hurt anybody _too_ bad.” He peered around the edge of the barn. “Come on.” 

Josephine looked to Kate, always the calm, level headed one, hoping for some reassurance, but all she could make out was her familiar creased brow. She was thinking, thinking that this may not work. That they may get caught and though they, probably, wouldn’t be hanged, the man they cheated might shoot Clay if he ever saw him again. 

Clay quietly eased the barn door open and aimed his gun as he quietly slipped inside. Kate didn’t like using her gun unless absolutely necessary, but as Josie saw her draw her Smith and Wesson from her side, she decided it might be good to have her rifle in her hands, rather than useless on her back. The two girls silently followed their brother, gently pulling the door shut behind them as they did. 

The only noise in the drafty old barn were their own hearts pounding, the only light was a pale, eerie blue coming in at odd angles were chunks of wood had been broken or simply worn down. In the stillness of the moment, the three Carter siblings believed that they might be home free. Their recklessness and stupidity had not done them in, not this time. They could rest. 

The howl of a hound, not five feet from the barn, made Kate jump. They were surrounded and they knew it. Josie tried to aim her gun, but wasn’t sure where to point it. Clay stood frozen, trying to hear footsteps, voices, anything. Kate squeezed her eyes shit and began to silently pray. 

_Dear Lord, protect my siblings fore they know not what they do._

Josie held her breath, finally deciding to aim at the door. 

_I have led them astray, dear Lord, with sweet lies told to me by a devil._

Clay pulled his second gun and attempted to aim them through slats at the back of the barn, but he knew he wasn’t close enough to ever hit someone. 

_Dear Lord, save them._

“I think there may be somebody in that barn.” 

_Save them._

Kate opened her eyes and trained her gun on the door. 

_Save them._

The barn door slid open and before them stood several men, though they couldn’t see them very well in the pale moonlight. They couldn’t tell if they were wearing badges, and they certainly would rather try to run again or talk their way out of this situation than shoot a lawman. 

“Hey now, don’t shoot. We mean you know harm.” said a deep-voiced man near the front.  
He took a step forward and Josie cocked the hammer of her gun. “Then don’t you come any closer.”  
“Ma’am, we don’t want to hurt you, but I’m afraid you’ve drawn the law a bit too close to where my family and I are staying.”  
Clay stepped up in front of his sisters. “My family and I will just be going then.” 

_Going where?_ Kate wanted to ask. They had no money, no horses, nothing they could try to even sell worth anything, ‘cept for Josie’s rifle and she would never part with it. And now here they were, stuck in a barn south of nowhere, law closing in, and five or six armed men claiming they didn’t want to hurt them, but not showing any signs of letting them go. 

“Well, why don’t you come with us? We have food, shelter, and if you disappear into a camp full of people, well the officers up in Valentine will quit looking, at least for a while.” 

Going with these men was likely suicide, but each of them would better stomach shooting their way out of _this_ kind of trouble. 

“And if they do come? What then, you give us up?” Josie asked.  
“We don’t just give people up,” another man answered, stepping forward. He eyed Kate a bit too long for Josie’s personal taste.  
“Well we ain’t one of you. How do we know you won’t take us and turn us in? Or that this isn’t some kind of trap?”  
“You don’t.” The deep voiced man responded. “But it isn’t, I can assure you. We are in the same boat as you are.” He smiled, white teeth plainly visible in the glow of the moon. “Have a little faith.”


	2. A Long Way from Virginia

The Carter siblings had grown up in Virginia. Katherine, the oldest, was born not long after the war ended, on a beautiful spring day. It was one of those days where, even in their shame or anger, Southerners were proud to be Southern. The Carters were proud of so much more on that day, they were proud of the beautiful blue-eyed baby that had been gifted to them by the Lord above. Her mama called her Kate, a gentle reminder of the sister she had lost as a child. Her daddy called her Katiedid, because she was singing before she could talk. 

Kate was three when her baby brother came along. Clay was the reward of a hard year and an even harder labor. Born in the bitter cold of November as unharvested tobacco rotted in the field, the small boy was the apple of his daddy’s eye. From the first time she saw him, Kate vowed to be the best big sister to Clay she could be. She taught him everything the tiny girl knew. They were a pair, Kate and Clay, blue-eyed blonde Virginia babies. 

Then came the little surprise, a baby the Carters weren’t expecting until a few months before she showed up. Josephine was born in a flurry of panic in the middle of June, a shock of dark hair and even darker eyes. Her mama compared her to a late blooming magnolia, not here when she should’ve been, but a splash of beauty later in life. Josie looked just like her daddy, and had the temper of him, as well. Clay fell just as hard for his baby sister as Kate had for him and the pair became a trio. 

The sweetness that had started the three siblings’ lives though, did not last. When Kate was ten and Josie was five, that big beautiful home they’d been born into burned down. The family, who had been so proud of their home and the fact it had been spared in the war, was devastated. Not long after, their daddy died, some say of heartbreak, some say of poison. Their mama, not knowing where to turn, took up with a Maryland man and moved away, leaving the kids with her own mother. She sent money back every week and would come back and visit when she could, but as they got older, those visits became few and far between until they stopped entirely. 

Eventually, their grandmother died and Kate decided it was time she live up to the vow she made and take care of those kids. Even at fifteen and seventeen, they were still kids to her. So she did the only think she knew to do, she met a railroad man and agreed to be his wife, his caretaker, as long as he agreed to provide for her and the kids. The man told her of all the riches they would find out west, out in California. _We can be whoever want to be, Katie, we can start over and make it rich! We can be somebody!_ Empty promises, she soon realized. The man left her and Josie and Clay just outside of New Austin with nothing but a dollar and their clothing. They never saw California. 

Clay didn’t think they needed the man to take care of them, anyway. He did find working in a saloon and Josie, the only one of them who could read or write, managed alright working as a secretary for a local judge. Though there were some vicious rumors, they lived a fairly quiet, fine life. The way Clay figured it, the girls would likely soon find husbands and then he would head west on his own, see what he could make of this wild world. But Kate had wanted better for them, and had insisted they all go, and Clay would be damned if he let her go alone, or let Josie stay alone with that judge. So, they all went west. 

Kate felt like she was in a similar situation now. These men promising them safety, but was it just more false promises? Clay had a similar feeling, a man standing here saying “Come with me, I’ll keep you safe,” sounded a lot like that man back in Virginia saying, “Come with me, I’ll make you rich.” 

The second man stepped closer to Kate. He was a rather handsome man, now that Josie could see him better. On the grayer side, but he didn’t look old. He looked wise, and kind. Like someone you could easily trust. He extended his hand to Kate. 

“We won’t harm you, miss. Please, you look tired. Let us help you.” 

Against, what was probably her better judgement, Kate lowered her gun and cast a look to her brother and sister. Josie kept her rifle pointe at ol’ deep voice’s temple, but Clay caught her eye. She sensed his hesitation, but he gave her a small nod.

“Josie, put the gun down,” she instructed.   
“What?” Josie spat. “Are you cr-,”  
“Put it down, Josie,” Clay interrupted. 

And there was Josie’s betrayed feeling again. She lowered the weapon, but kept a tight grip on it. They always did this! They always bossed her down and never took her opinions into-

“It will be ok, ma’am.” The deep voiced man said, stepping forward and placing his hand on her shoulder. “Arthur, show this young lady to your horse, please.” 

Kate took the hand of the handsome man. “Come on, dear.” He said. “My name is Hosea.”   
“I’m Kate Carter.” 

Josie had no intention of telling her own white knight her name, and he didn’t seem very interested in speaking much with her either, until they got to his horse. 

“You can pout all you want to,” he said as he lifted her onto the horse. “We ain’t gonna hurt you.” 

She adjusted her rifle in her grip causing the metal to glint in the moonlight. “Whatever you say, Arthur.” She spat his name like it was piece of rotten meat, but she gripped him tight as the horse took off. 

It’d been a while since she’d rode _with_ someone. She, for a very brief moment, allowed herself to relax and take in the scenery that they passed. It wasn’t often that the heartlands got snow, but damn, was it beautiful. The way it glittered in the moonlight. Every once in a while, she would catch site of a rabbit bounding out of the way of the horses and hopping away into the horizon. She couldn’t help but smile. 

She heard a vibrant laugh from behind her. She turned her head to look, but couldn’t plainly see the man in the sporadic light that cut through the trees. She did catch his smile, though, and the way his eyes danced with laughter. Shame she may have to shoot him, she thought. 

Clay felt a bit awkward riding behind a young man named John, but the two quickly fell into a back and forth, joking about the situations one finds themselves in on the run. John told him about the wolves he faced up in the Grizzlies, how he got his scars, and Clay told him about the con they were trying pull when they had to run. They agreed to play a game of poker in the morning, John mainly wanted to see if he was as good as he claimed to be. 

Kate had saddled up with the man called Hosea. She held him tightly and let him do the talking. Before long, she found herself admiring the line of his jar and the straightness of his nose. And before she knew it, she was lost in a fantasy of what it would be like to curl up in front of a fireplace with him in one of those big homes like she used to have in Virginia, noses in books, on a snowy night just like this one. But Kate could not read and they were a long way from Virginia.

Oh how they were a long way from Virginia, but perhaps, she thought, not that far from home.


	3. Lorena

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally some Javier x Josie time! (And Mary-Beth x Clay!)

Josie slept late the next morning, which surprised her brother and sister a bit. She had always been a light sleeper and usually only slept about four hours at a time, but on this morning, they found her in a deep sleep from which they refused to wake her. It was hunger and heat that eventually woke her around eleven the next morning. The snow had long since melted as the weather warmed with the sun and she was a bit disappointed to be greeted only with mud. 

She sat up, taking in the sights and sounds of the camp from her place on the cot. Things seemed to flow quite nicely. There was a man chopping wood, ladies sewing and carrying on the most lively conversation, and even a young boy wandering around speaking to everyone. What caught her eye most, though, was the young man seated by a fire strumming his guitar. His light notes and melodious voice, accompanied by the sounds of the food wagon, the ladies laughing, and the birds chirping, it was down right erotic. 

Josie couldn’t help but stare. She watched his fingers first, the was they picked the strings so delicately, but so firm, bending them to his will and making them do exactly what he wanted, emit the noise that he wanted them to. Her eyes wandered up to his lips, the way the crafted the words, almost like a language she didn’t understand. And his eyes, focused only on the instrument in his hands. It was truly beautiful. 

“That’s Javier… In case you’re wonderin’.”   
She looked up to meet Arthur’s gaze. “I… I wasn’t,” she leapt to her feet, the bottom of her skirt instantly staining in the mud. “I didn’t mean to-,”   
Arthur waved his hand as if to push away her worries. “Just tellin’ you his name. You hungry? Pearson’ll have the stew done soon.”   
Josie tossed a look back to Javier, whose eyes had now fallen on her. She looked back to Arthur. “I think I oughta go introduce myself, but thank you.”

Arthur simply nodded as they both turned away from each other. Josie was not a nervous person, and she had always been able to hold her own with men, and she expected now to be no different. She approached him with her signature sly smile, her hands falling onto her hips.

“ _Hola._ The sleeping princess awakens,” he greeted. “You know we thought for a minute you might be dead.”   
“Oh, it’s gonna take a whole lot more than a rough night to take me down,” she smirked. “Whatcha’ playin’ there?”   
“Oh just, some old song from… childhood,” He smiled up at her. “Take a seat, let me play you something.”   
“Well, now, nobody’s ever serenaded me before,” Josie took a seat on the log next to Javier, lightly brushing her thigh against his, a move that did not go unnoticed by the outlaw.   
“What is your favorite song, _hermosa_?”

Josie thought about it for a moment. No one had ever asked her that before, and telling the truth, she had never paid much attention to music she heard in the saloons and towns she had been to. Kate was the musical one, always humming or singing. She tried to think back to songs her grandmother had taught her as a girl, but her grandmother did not sing much, either. 

“The only song she knows is _Oh, Shenandoah_ , and trust me, you don’t want to hear her sing it,” Clay remarked.   
“Oh, like you know many more?” His sister retorted.   
A sly smirk grew on his face, “ _Oh, the years creep slowly by, Lorena,_ ” he began.   
“Oh, please, Clay, no. Not this song again.”   
“ _The snow is on the ground again. The sun's low down the sky, Lorena,_ ”

Javier began to play along, apparently knowing well the song Clay was singing. Josie couldn’t help but feel a bit betrayed again. Her siblings couldn’t leave her alone, they couldn’t let her have just a moment with a handsome man who wanted to play her song. They made her come west when she would’ve been just as content to stay in Virginia working for the judge – who probably would have made a wife of her eventually. A second wife, but still a wife. She sure as hell wouldn’t be in the middle the Heartlands with a bounty on her head then. 

“ _We loved each other then, Lorena, far more than we ever dared to tell,_ ” a pretty blonde woman joined in, though her speech slurred a bit more than Clay’s. 

Josie looked over at Javier as he played the music for their accompaniment. He caught her eye and flashed her a beautiful smile. It was only then that she realized he was the man she heard laughing on the ride back last night. The man with the beautiful smile. She gave him a shy smile and neither bothered to break eye contact. 

“' _Tis dust to dust beneath the sod; But there, up there, 'tis heart to heart._ ”  
“You wanna take a walk?” Javier whispered as the song came to a close.   
“Mhm.” 

The blonde lady laughed and took a swig from the bottle in her hand before offering it to Clay. He took it with a thanks and took a large drink. The taste of it churned his stomach and burned his throat. It was some strong shit. He coughed as he handed it back to her.

“You’re sure a good singer, Mister Carter,” She laughed. “I’m Karen.”   
“Well, it is nice to meet you, Karen. That is some… some strong stuff you got there.”   
“Why thank you!” Karen took another drink as she walked away. 

That is when Clay’s eyes landed on the young woman behind her. She was quite possibly the loveliest thing he could ever remember seeing – and he was real sure that wasn’t the whiskey talking. She had a soft, kind smile and the biggest, sweetest brown eyes. He was quite taken with her immediately.

“H-Hi,” he stuttered, mentally cursing himself for being so taken aback by her.   
She giggled. “Guess you ain’t near as smooth as your sister, huh?”   
“Who, Josephine? Oh, nah. That girl was born to be a- well, she’s just always been a real eye catcher.” 

The girl laughed again, and Clay never wanted it to stop. Her laugh sounded like rain on the tin roof of a home – not a house or a hideout, a home, a home that had a warm fire crackling and good food cooking and dogs and kids and happiness – and a whole lot more of that laughter.

“I’m Mary-Beth Gaskill.”   
“I’m Clay Carter.”   
“Well, we’re real happy to have you here, Clay Carter.” She smiled. “I better get back to my work, but I’d like to hear you sing some more later.”   
“Of course.” One last flash of that smile, that smile, and she was gone, but Clay didn’t ever want to leave. 

The sun was starting to heat the camp up and Kate was wishing to anything that her hat wasn’t back in Valentine. As she sat with Dutch and Hosea at a table in the camp, she couldn’t help but get lost in a daydream in which she’d simply kept her mouth shut and stayed home in Virginia. The preferable “V” at the moment. 

“And where do you and your family intend to go, Miss Carter?” Dutch’s voice pulled her from her fantasies.   
“I’m sorry?”   
“Well, we will not be staying here forever, Miss Carter. Where do you and your siblings intend to go from here?” Dutch asked again.   
“Oh, well, we hadn’t thought on it much, but before we go, we would like to help you rescue your friend, Sean.”   
“We could not ask that of you, Katherine.” Hosea said, placing his hand gently on her’s.  
“Please, you all have done such a kindness to us, it’s the least we could do to repay you. My brother is such a sweet talker and my sister is the surest shot I know, I’m sure we could be of some assistance.”   
“It would be a very dangerous job, Katherine. They’ll be rescuing him from bounty hunters and the like.”   
“I don’t doubt that is, but I also don’t doubt my family. We want to prove to you our value to you.”   
“Well, they can ride out with Arthur and the men first thing tomorrow morning, then.” 

Kate smiled somewhat self-satisfied-ly, she wanted to prove that they were worthy of the outlaw title and worthy to stay with this gang. Maybe these people, this family, could keep her family safe. Just maybe.


	4. Bona-Fide Outlaws

“We don’t shoot the law!” Josephine hissed.  
“But it ain’t the law, it’s just bounty hunters,” Kate pleaded.  
“It’s the same damn thing, Kate!” Clay only slightly raised his voice above a whisper, but it still carried the harshness of a scream. 

The three stood in the woods not far from camp, but far enough that their voices would not be heard over the singing and merriment that often accompanied the end of the day. Kate stood a few feet from her brother and sister, her large blue eyes pleading, her arms crossed defensively across her chest.  
Josephine, on the other hand, was enraged at her sister’s suggestion that they help these people – people that they just met – break someone out of custody. They had never pulled a stunt like this. They were cons and petty thieves, and sure, they had shot a few people, but they didn’t necessarily help bona-fide outlaws, and they did not shoot the law. 

“I promised them we would help.” Kate again pleased.  
“No, you promised that _we_ would help.” Clay gestured to his younger sister. “ _We_ will have to shoot people, _you_ will stay here and keep your hands clean.”  
“Havin’ us do your dirty work,” Josie added. 

Kate was rather taken aback by her sister’s accusation. She felt they owed these people _something_ , something for their kindness, for rescuing them and feeding them and sheltering them. Helping them save their friend, something the three of them could easily assist with, it was the least they could do. It would also solidify their place in the group, something Kate desperately wanted. She missed the companionship that a family brought. 

“I-I don’t think that’s fair,” she responded.  
“Too bad.” 

The morning came much too quickly for Katherine Carter, unsure of what exactly it would bring. If her siblings would agree to help or if they would embarrass them all and likely force the three of them to be moving on, on their own again. The loud birds and the sounds of movement around camp roused her from sleep.  
As her eyes began to focus, she saw her sister sitting with Javier next to the fire, cleaning and preparing her rifle, Clay seated a few feet away at a table speaking excitedly with Dutch, Arthur, and a man she did not recognize. She stretched, rising to her feet and heading toward the table. Dutch turned to meet her first. 

“Katherine, this is the man I want you to meet. Josiah Trelawny.”  
Mr. Trelawny turned, smiling, bowing to her as she approached.  
“It is a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Trelawny.”  
“The pleasure is truly all mine, my dear girl,” He said, taking her hand and kissing her knuckle, earning a sneer from Clay. 

Trelawny was a funny looking man, but handsome. He spoke in a funny way, as well, but it sounded quite nice to Kate’s ear. She was instantly taken with the gentleman, he reminded her of some of the men she had known in Virginia, much more so than anyone else she had met since she left. 

“We should get going, we’re losing daylight,” Charles told them as he, Josie and Javier joined the group at the table.  
“Exactly. Josiah, you take Javier and Josephine out to Blackwater, then go with Charles and see if you can find out exactly where Sean is. Arthur and Clay will be joining you shortly,” Dutch instructed.  
Kate was timid but felt she should ask. “What should I do?”  
“Stay here and out of the way,” Josie hissed, checking over her rifle one more time. 

Kate was a bit saddened by her sister’s response, and those before her’s lack of defense of her. She let the remark slide though, and watched as her siblings and new friends mounted up and headed off to a place they could be hurt, or worse. Dutch watched her thoughtfully, knowing, at least a bit, of what she was feeling as she watched her family head into danger. 

“Katherine,” He called, and she looked at him. “Do you like to fish?” 

Josie was, at least slightly, bothered by how calm she was as she laid next to Javier and Charles on the rock above Blackwater, staring into a town full of people who wanted her companions – and by extension, her – dead. She kept her rifle close, ready to fire at the first sign of trouble.

“Damn it, where’s Trelawny?” Javier whispered as Arthur joined them laying next to Josephine on the rock. Clay creeped on the other side of Javier, pulling out his own binoculars.  
“Has anyone been into Blackwater see how things lie?” Arthur asked.  
“Place is crawling with Pinkertons, bounty hunters, pictures of Dutch and Hosea,” Javier told him.  
“We got a lot of money sitting in that town.”  
“And that’s where its gonna remain, for now.”  
“About… how much did y’all get away with?” Josephine whispered to Javier.  
“Gentleman,” Josiah called cutting off any answer Javier might’ve been about to give. “And lady,” he smiled. “Sean is being moved up the Upper Montana, then to a federal prison out west.” 

Josephine looked at Clay. She had convinced herself that what they were doing wouldn’t be that bad, like Kate had said, it was just bounty hunters. But if Sean was wanted, if they assisted in helping a _federal prisoner_ escape, and killed people while doing so, well there was no coming back from that. They would be _bona-fide_ outlaws. Josephine wasn’t entirely sure if that is what she wanted. Clay’s eyes never left Josiah and he had on his best poker face. She had no idea his feelings on this as it developed. 

“Ike Skelding’s boys are moving him to a camp nearby before handing him over to the government,” Josiah said.  
“We need to stop them before they get to that camp,” Clay added, all eyes turning to him.  
Arthur nodded in agreement. “You and Charles head up on the north side and then we’ll head up on the other side of the valley and meet you, that way we have them in either direction,” Charles and Clay nodded, taking off in their appointed direct. “Josie, Javier, Josiah come on.” 

Josie’s blood ran cold. This was it, this was real. They were about to go up against real bounty hunters, they were about to bust a wanted man out of custody. She could die doing this, she could go to jail for this. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t shot someone before, hell, she had killed people, but it had been people who had been trying to kill her. She’d never walked in to any place looking for a fight. But here they went. Looking for a fight. 

They met the boat as it stopped and Sean was unloaded. The men had determined a quiet approach, for as long as possible, was their best course of action. This further uneased Josie, she wasn’t a hand to hand person, she wasn’t even that great with a revolver, she was a at her best when she was taking her time, working strategically, when she could breathe and count. But she was in this now and there was no going back. 

As Josiah headed around to distract the guard, Josie, Javier, and Arthur hunkered down in the river. Josie balanced her rifle on the top of the rock she hid behind, read to fire in case anything went wrong. She was a confident person, she knew she was a good shot, her sister had sold her as a good shot, she had to live up to that. At the signal, Javier and Arthur crept on across the river and quietly took out the guards before Josie followed, skirt soaked.

“We’ve got two more halfway up the canyon to deal with,” Javier said.  
“I got it,” Josie responded. 

Almost as if on auto-plot, Josephine slid to the side of the bolder they were hunkered behind. To her, setting up a shot was like breathing, she balanced the rifle on her shoulder, one hand poised near the trigger, the other steadying the gun. She aimed just off the first guard’s head, attempting to account for wind and other factors that may influence her shot. Josie took a deep breath and opened her mouth just slightly. Then she pulled the trigger. 

Her first shot caught the first guard on the jaw, the second coming seconds later, caught the second guard in the ear. Javier had never been so turned on by a woman as all hell broke loose around them. The three charged up the canyon like they were charging into battle. Josie found her stride, taking aim at the gunmen up high. 

Everything felt like it was moving in slow motion as bounty hunters descended on them. Josie kept her aim high, knowing very well that those positioned about the canyon could easily take one of them out before they knew what hit them. But not watching around her was almost her downfall as she dove behind a boulder, a stray bullet whizzed by her head, narrowly missing her. She whipped around, rifle ready, just in time to see Javier dig a knife into her assailant’s skull.

“Come on!” Arthur called and the three headed further up the canyon.  
“I see Charles and Clay up there!” Javier yelled. 

Josephine looked up to see her brother struggling, apparently disarmed, on the edge of the cliff. She knew one wrong move could go badly, but she also wasn’t confident that the story would have a happy ending if she didn’t make her move. She lined her rifle up and pulled the trigger. The bullet struck the bounty hunter in the neck and he fell toward them, off the edge of the cliff, landing in a crumpled heap on the ground. 

“Let’s go!” She yelled. 

As they arrived at the top of the cliff, Clay grabbed her arm. “What the hell was that? You could’ve shot me!”  
“But I didn’t.”  
“Josie, don’t you go doing stupid shit like that!”  
“Are we gonna fight or finish this?” Josephine jerked her arm free and hurried after Javier, diving right into another gun fight. 

Things seemed to slow for Clay though, almost to a stop. Almost as if _he_ had finally realized what they were doing. Charging into a bounty hunter’s camp like they were the god damn army. Who the hell did they think they were? This wasn’t the west, not a wild frontier, not anymore. This wasn’t their fight, not yet.

“On top of the tower, whose got a shot on him?” 

Clay saw Josie line up her shot, but before she could get one off, before he even thought out what he was doing, he pulled his guns from his belt and fired. The man fell from the tower much like the one had in the canyon, none of them even stopping to acknowledge the lives they were taking. Just charging into battle like the god damn army.


	5. Javier

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has smut, 18+ ONLY, obviously! Sorry for the delay, please enjoy!

“Come on, cut me down!” Sean called as Arthur approached him beginning to cut at the rope holding him in place.   
He hit the ground with a sharp ‘umph.’ “You know, you’re a lot less ugly from that other angle, Arthur.” 

Josie leaned lightly against the tree behind Javier, taking a moment to admire him. He was so handsome, and a kind of man that she’d never experienced. Someone that made her feel calm and excited all at once. Someone she felt safe with, because she felt like he would protect her, and anxious with, because she wanted to protect him. 

Javier looked over his shoulder and met Josephine’s eye, a small smirk formed on his lips. Once Sean got a look at her, they’d never have another minute of alone time, something he wanted more and more with her. Just to be alone, in the quiet, free to do whatever they desired. 

That’s what their walk the day before had been, contrary to what some folks back at camp had implied. They had simply walked and talked, found a quiet spot and did a little fishing. Javier mainly did the fishing, Josie just watched and listening, but it was the way she watched, like he was the _only_ important thing. 

“Well now, excuse me, ma’am, but I reckon you’re beautiful from any angle,” Sean smiled, finally getting a good look at Josie. “Sean MacGuire, at your service,” he said as he placed a small kiss on her knuckle. Josie giggled, Javier’s face turned red. 

“I’m Josephine Carter,” she smiled. “And that’s my brother-,”  
“Clay. Clay Carter.” He said, stepping up to shake Sean’s hand.   
“Well now, I know you. The greatest gambler in the West. Took a buncha rich folk for all they’s worth out in New Austin, did ya?” Sean asked, then cast a look back at Josie. “You and that pretty sister ‘a yer’s.”   
“That wasn’t-,”  
“That was our other sister,” Josie interrupted.   
“You mean there’s more of ya?”   
“Three, but people usually say I’m the good lookin’ sibling,” Clay smiled.   
“Enough with the introductions, we need to get out of here,” Arthur interjected. “We should split up. Javier, Josie, will you escort Mr. MacGuire back to camp? Charles, Clay, best you each ride separately.”   
“I can take Sean,” Clay offered, eyes, somewhat surprised, falling on him. “I’d like to hear more about what he’s heard about me.”   
“If you say so,” Arthur shot Josie an unreadable look. “Be careful, there’s patrols everywhere.”

“Josie, what you did back there was incredible,” Javier smirked as he placed his hands on her hips. 

The two had road together back to a quiet spot in the woods that they had discovered the day before on the edge of a small creek. It was peaceful there. Wildflowers grew on the banks, small rabbits played in a field near-by. Javier was sure Josephine spent hours while he fished just watching those rabbits. He felt like he could spend forever here with her and be perfectly content. For now, anyway. 

“Surprised?” She let that sly smile slide onto her face again.   
“I’m starting to think nothing you do should surprise me.”   
“Why, Javier, I am an open book. Why don’t you read all about me?”   
He brushed his nose against hers as he pulled her closer to him. “There’s just so much I want to know, _mi cielita_. I don’t know if I have the patience to read all those chapters right now.”   
“I’ll let you skip to the ending, _just this once_ ,” she whispered. 

The hands that had been on her hips quickly flew to her shirt, pulling it from its tucked position in her skirt and unbuttoning it as fast possible. She slid her hands up his chest and began pulling at the buttons of his vest, quickly pushing that and his jacket off his shoulders as he ripped her shirt open. And finally, after what felt like years of waiting but was actually just two days, his lips connected with her’s.

Josie had never felt such a fire as his kiss. She’d downed different whiskeys and bourbons, shot an array of weapons, and kissed more men then her mama’d ever even seen. But the passion Javier put into the kiss he gave to a woman he barely knew, it made her knees weak. She was thankful when he lifted her off her feet and laid her gently on the ground, but it meant pulling his lips from her’s. 

She’d never been sure if she believed in love, but she liked to think she did. But right at this moment, after that kiss, looking up at Javier, she thought she just might have found it. This man had a fire in his touch, a fire in his kiss, and a fire in his eyes – and by God, she wanted to play with it. She pulled him to her, reconnecting their lips, and prayed she was putting as much fire in the kiss as he was. 

When Javier moved his lips from Josie’s and slid them down her neck, he was almost breathless. She was not the woman he had been planning on finding, by any means. A fiery Southern girl who could shoot the whiskey from your hand. A woman who could hold her own in _every_ aspect. Something he learned quickly when she pulled his shirt open and slid her hands down his chest.

“Patience, _hermosa_ ,” he whispered as his lips trailed across her chest.  
“That hasn’t always been my best quality, my love.”   
He laughed as he pulled her skirt down her legs. “Come on, isn’t this the best part?” he asked, pushing his lips to hers again, not in a kiss, but in teasing.   
“I’m not sure you’ve ever done this before if you think _this_ is the best part.”

Javier growled and flipped her onto her stomach, pulling her hips up. He would show her just who she was dealing with. He knew how to love his woman. And Josie? Well, Josie knew how to play ‘em. She couldn’t keep the smirk off of her face as she heard him remove his belt. Something about that noise turning her on even more. 

Javier planted hot kisses up her spine before tangling his hands in her long dark hair and nipping at her ear. He ground his hips against hers, eliciting a low, dangerous moan from her throat. Javier almost died right then and there. If that was the type of noise she made, he just had to hear more. 

Pulling her skirts down her legs, he admired the beautiful arch of her back and curve of her ass. Damn, she got better and better the more he saw of her. 

“ _Perfecto_.” He whispered.   
“ _Javier_.” She cried out, rolling back onto her back. His name had never sounded so good.   
“Didn’t I say to be patient, sweetheart?”   
“Didn’t I tell you I wasn’t very good at that, _sweetheart_?” 

Javier laughed and slid his hands across her bare thighs, his lips following after. Her skin was the softest thing he had ever felt and, God, he couldn’t get enough. He kissed her hips, then her belly, up to her chest. She wanted to feel his lips on every inch of her body. The way he loved her like no one had before. The way he made it feel _real_. 

His lips found her neck and her hands found his hair and they both felt content to stay like that forever. Just the two of them, tangled up in each other. She wasn’t sure what would happen after this moment, if he would ignore her or if he would belong to her. She didn’t care, though, she just wanted him, all of him. Right now. 

And he wanted her, too. He made that evident when he slipped inside her, whispering her name like a prayer. She truly felt like heaven, and this time he was _sure_ he had died. She clung to him, every nerve on fire with pleasure. The scratches she was leaving down his back would be a mark of pride for days to come. 

He watched her face, enjoying the look of pure ecstasy that graced her features. He adored it. He adored her. She was so unexpected; this was so unexpected. But so was everything else the last few years of his life, and that had turned out alright. He was alive, wasn’t he? And oh, how she made him feel alive. 

“ _Javier_ ,” She moaned again.   
“That’s my girl, _muy bien, mi amor_.” 

Every little thing he did sent her to the moon. This man knew how to play her body masterfully. He knew when so speed up, when to go deeper, when to tease her. He peppered kisses down her neck and across her chest. She lazily wrapped a leg around his waist and trailed her fingers down his jaw. 

At her gentle touch, his eyes met hers and that was the moment Javier Escuella knew it was over for him. He would go to the end of the world for this woman if she kept looking at him like that.

“Oh, _Josephine_ ,” He moaned. “You kill me.” 

She smiled and pressed a fiery kiss to his lips as pleasure overtook her. Her forehead against his, she gasped against his lips. He held her close as her body went numb with pleasure, her mind but a hum of _him_. She held onto his shoulder as his hot breath fanned across her nose.

“ _Javier_ ,” She gasped again. 

The sound of her saying his name when she was so lost in pleasure, pleasure that he was giving her, that was all it took from him. He finished on her stomach, her name the only thing leaving his mouth. He could only pray he made it sound as good as she made his. The lazy smile that painted her lips as she pressed them to his again was all the reassurance that he needed.

**Author's Note:**

> If you stuck with it this far, thank you. Join us over at my tumblr by the same name to discuss, or just lurk.


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